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Tommy Lynn Sells

Tommy Lynn Sells. BY Meghan Lucci. BACKGROUND. Sells was born with a twin sister, Tammy Jean, in Oakland on June 28, 1964. There Tammy contracted meningitis and died. Tommy exhibited the same high fever as his sister, but he survived.

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Tommy Lynn Sells

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  1. Tommy Lynn Sells BY Meghan Lucci

  2. BACKGROUND • Sells was born with a twin sister, Tammy Jean, in Oakland on June 28, 1964. • There Tammy contracted meningitis and died. Tommy exhibited the same high fever as his sister, but he survived. • Tommy’s mom sent him to live with her aunt, Bonnie Walpole, from ages 2 to 5. The aunt was going to adopt Tommy. The mother was furious. She took possession of the boy and refused to allow him to visit Walpole. • At age 8, he was allowed to spend time with a man from a nearby town who had befriended him. The man would later be identified as a pedophile that molested boys, including Sells, for years before he was caught. • He was allowed to sample alcohol with his grandpa at age 7. • He began smoking ditch-weed marijuana at age 10. • He crawled into bed naked with his grandma at age 13, and he would later undergo mental examination when he tried to rape his own mother. • By age 14 he was off on his own, a boy posing as a man, hopping trains, stealing, and doing what he had to do to survive. • He has a wife, Jessica Levrie, and had four children.

  3. Crimes he committed or confessed Krystal survived the attack, identified Sells from a photopack, and testified at trial. Sells confessed to killing Katy Harris and attacking Krystal Surles. He went with police to the residence and gave a videotaped re-enactment of the crime, which aligned with Krystal's account.

  4. Most Recent Crime • Sells visited the Harris home several times, asking Terry for counseling about his marital difficulties. After closing time at a local bar, Sells made his way to the Harris home and entered through an open window. He went to a bedroom, where he saw Kaylene "Katy" Harris, 13, sleeping in the bottom bunk. 10 year old Krystal Surles was sleeping in the top bunk. Sells put his hand over Katy's mouth and brandished a 12-inch boning knife he had brought with him. He sliced off Katy's shorts and underwear and began fondling her. She wiggled free, stood up and screamed. Sells then turned on the light and moved to block the door. Katy saw herself bleeding and said, "You cut me!" Sells then moved behind her, put his hand over her mouth, and sliced her throat twice. Katy dropped to the floor and gurgled. Sells stabbed her 16 more times. "I'll be quiet, I promise. I won't say anything," Krystal said as Sells moved toward her. He reached over and sliced her throat. She fell to the ground, pretending to be dead as Sells walked out the front door. Assuming that everyone in the house had been killed, Krystal ran outside to a neighbor's house and police were called.

  5. Sentence • On September 18, 2000, Sells pleaded guilty and was convicted of the capital murder of Kaylene Harris and attempted murder of Krystal Surles. He was sentenced to death. • Capital murder is any murder that makes the perpetrator eligible for the death penalty. • On September 17, 2003, Sells was indicted for the 1997 Greene County, Missouri murder of Stephanie Mahaney. • Also in 2003, Sells pleaded guilty to strangling to death, nine-year-old Mary Bea Perez of San Antonio, for which he received a life sentence. • Sells is housed on death row in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit near Livingston, Texas • Executed by lethal injection in Texas on April 3, 2014

  6. Quotes and nickname • Nickname: Cross Country Killer • Quotes : • “My life don't make a lot of sense. It don't make sense that I go around the country killing people. Period. It don't make sense doing that." • "Take your worst nightmares, and put my face to them." • "Do I think I'm the one that killed this kid? Yes...Uh, if it wasn't this kid I killed, then there's a murder out there that, that we still ain'tundug yet.“

  7. Cultural Reference • Books: Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells • TvShows: Most Evil, On Case with Paula Zahn

  8. Differential-Association theory • I think it is Differential-Association theory because that means that he learned his criminal behavior by interaction by people. I think he learned his behavior when he hung out the man in the town near by when he was 8 years old. It was later identified that he molested little boy. They think that Tommy Lynn Sells was one of the boys that he molested. I think he learned how to molest and rape girl by the man he hung out with. I also think that he raped and killed those women and children out of raged. He had a lot of reason for having rage because when he was younger he was abandoned by his mom and lived with his aunt then went back to his mom. He also never finished school. He went to school all the way until 8th grade. These are the reasons why I chose Differential-Association theory.

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